The Rock and Austin 'getting a little antsy'! by Phil Speer

courtesy of WWF.com



The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin are as excited about their match Sunday at WrestleMania X-Seven as the fans were to see them Saturday at AXXESS. Just 24 hours before the kickoff of WrestleMania, the two superstars shared their thoughts going into the biggest match of their careers. "I feel great. I feel damn good," Austin said. "When I first rolled in here, everything was pretty cool. I came into Houston on Wednesday and as Thursday crept around I started getting a little more excited. Then Friday and now today's Saturday - the adrenaline's really starting to flow. So I'm getting a little antsy."

Added The Rock, "I'm real excited and I know that I'll get even more excited. This position makes me so cranked by the time the show begins. You largely see that carry over into the ring in terms of intensity, excitement and passion. It seems to be a groundbreaking, history-making, record-setting Pay-Per-View. It's going to be a very, very special night in many, many ways."

Both superstars said they've put in the extra effort to prepare for the match. Austin has, in his words, "been busting my ass on the treadmill" and says he considers himself to be in "extremely good shape."
The Rock, meanwhile, has been forced to make time to work out, as he hasn't had a day off in a month. He's been taking a jet to Los Angeles each Tuesday night immediately after SmackDown! tapings to work on "The Scorpion King" movie. He's up every morning by 4 a.m. for makeup at 5 a.m., and then he films until 8 p.m. After that, he works out.

"The physicality part will take care of itself," Rock said. "What's very important is psychologically going into the match, what we'd like to accomplish." After all the preparation and the hype, WrestleMania Weekend is now underway. But before they can step into the ring, both superstars visited AXXESS: The Fan Festival on Saturday afternoon. The Rock spent time at the Community Relations booth, where fans had donated money to the Make-A-Wish Foundation to share a piece of pie with the People's Champion. About $2,000 was raise for Make-A-Wish during The Rock's appearance.
Stone Cold signed autographs for fans at one of the Jakks Pacific Autograph Stages.

This whole thing - AXXESS - electricity is in the area," Austin said. "Like I said, I've been in Houston for a few days now, and everywhere I go people are asking and talking about the event and saying, 'Good luck.' My cell phone is ringing. People are calling me - I don't know how they got my number - telling me, 'Good luck.' So there's definitely a buzz about this WrestleMania that I haven't felt. Of course I missed one. There was a buzz around the one when I fought Shawn (Michaels) in Boston (WrestleMania XIV). To me, there's more of a buzz going on here now. Maybe it's because it's in my backyard of Houston. There's excitement in the air, definitely."

The next 24 hours will be low-key for both superstars. They both plan to have a steak dinner tonight and then return to their hotel rooms. Rock says he'll rent a movie, finish some paperwork and review his notes for the match. Austin said he's going to meet a few friends to give them WrestleMania tickets, and then focus on getting mentally prepared for the match.
"I'm just gonna hang back in my hotel room and probably just think about tomorrow," he said. "And kind of visualize it all really -- kind of make a mental picture of what I think's going happen. And just kind of chill out in my room - low profile."

They say they'll wake up early tomorrow morning - "My body clock is completely whacked out as it is, so I may get up at 4 a.m.," The Rock said -- and, after a light breakfast, arrive at the Reliant Astrodome by the early afternoon. Just a few hours later - although it may seem like much longer to The Rock and Stone Cold - 65,000 fans will be chanting their names. It'll finally be show time.